God's Word and its' importance in our lives and society

Some people think that the bible is outdated and not revelant for today's world. However, since God created the world and everyone in it, we should really study His Word and try to obey it.

Isn't God's Word just AMAZING! There are so many encouraging verses in there! These verses tell us that God works all things together for the good of those who love him. (Romans 8:28). They tell us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength  (Philippians 4:13). In Romans 8:39-39 we are told that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These verses have encouraged me when I was at my wits end, when I was filled with despair, and when I was in a constant state of fear and anxiety. However, sometimes when I'm at school, or at camp, or at a park, or just watching tv, I see a beautiful girl. Before long, I start admiring her long hair, her big, shiny eyes, her white, bright smile, her - then a voice comes into my head and says"But I tell you LITTLE HAPPY GARCIA, whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart"(Matthew 5:28 HGV). Then I say "Jesus, why you gotta ruin my fun?". LOL. Seriously, do I particularly enjoy this verse? No, not really, but I accept it as the Word of God. I try to follow it, even though I fail, many, many, many, many times. But Hey, that's where grace comes in. However, there are some people, Christians included, that can look at a hard hitting, or unpopular verse and go "I don't accept that" or "That doesn't really apply to modern culture". These people think their way of life is better than God's way of life, which is ironic because God is the one who gave all of us life. That would be like a math teacher explaining how to do a very complex problem, then the students trying to do it a different way. Let me give an example of this. I probably shouldn't use this one... No, you know what? I should! Like my sister used to say "I'M BOUT TO...!"

     In Genesis 2, God established the institution of marriage. Genesis 2:24 says "That is why man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife and they become one flesh". Jesus confirms this definition of marriage in Matthew 19:4-7 when He says "Have you not read that He who made them in the beginning made them male and female and said 'On account of this a man will leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh ". The bible is filled with passages regarding marriage. They talk about the roles of husbands and wives. They also explain how the relationship of a marriage between a man and woman reflects the relationship that Jesus has with his Church (that's all the people that have repented of their sin and are trusting in him as Lord and Savior). All of these passages about marriage refer to it as a God-established, covenant relationship between a man and a woman. However, many people, including some Christians, think that individuals who engage in homosexual relationships should be able to marry. Does God has anything to say on this matter? Yes, and quite alot! Let's start in the Old Testament. Leviticus 20:13 says "If a man lies with another man as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be punished. Their blood will be upon them". In Genesis, we can clearly see how much God hates homosexuality. In the 19th chapter, he destroyed two whole cities for their heinous, wretched sins, particularly homosexuality. Some of the men in one of the cities actually tried to rape one of the male angels that God sent to the city. God punished the city by sending fire down from heaven to destroy the city and everybody in it. That should give us a vivid picture of how God feels about this issue. In the New Testament epistles written by Paul, there are many warnings against sexual immorality, including homosexuality. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10  reads "Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with other men nor thieves nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God". From this verse we can see that homosexuality is such a serious sin against God that those who practice it are not allowed into the kingdom of God, which is heaven. All these verses should convince us that homosexuality and God don't mix very well. Yet, there are so many people, including some professing Christians, that still view homosexuality as an acceptable behavior. There are many reasons for this, however, for this writing I'll be focusing on two of the main ones.

      There are those who believe God to be a "wishy-washy, mamby-pamby, sunshine and rainbow, wimpy" god who is all loving and non judgemental. They think God wants all people to be happy. Regarding same sex marriage, these people tend to say "If two people of the same sex genuinely love each other, there's no way God would judge them for it. After all, God is all-loving!". They think that God can be emotionally manipulated into suddenly condoning homosexuality. However, Hebrews 13:7-9 says "Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you ;and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Do not be carried away by strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited." Unlike the government of the United States, God is not persuaded by the opinions, thoughts, and feelings of humans. If he was, he wouldn't be a very powerful god, would he? It doesn't matter if people of the same sex "love each other", God still says it's wrong  for them to be together. That reminds me of when I was younger and thought I was in "love" with many older women. Even though my feelings (which were mainly lust driven) told me I was in love, it would have been inappropriate for me to be with them. In the same fashion, it's inappropriate for people of the same sex to be together.

      Another  reason people support homosexuality despite what the bible says is that they doubt it's really the Word of God. They tend to say "God didn't write the Bible, men did." Perhaps they've never read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." Men may have physically written the Bible, but the words they wrote originated from God. He spoke his message into the hearts of men through the power of the Holy Spirit, who then wrote it down so everybody could hear and learn from it.

       Now, there are two reasons we should obey the Word of God to the best of our ability. First, God is the Creator, Ruler, and King of Heaven and Earth. He is the one who gave each of us breath to breathe, water to drink, and food to eat. Without Him, we wouldn't have anything! The least we can do is try to obey His Word! That would be like if you were homeless and somebody took you into their home, gave you warm clothes, food, and a nice bed to sleep on. Wouldn't you do the very best you could to follow that person's house rules? The world is like God's house that he allows all of us to live in. We should show our gratitude to God by trying to obey His "house rules", which are found in His word, the bible. The second reason we should try our best to obey His Word is the order it will bring us in our lives. Speaking from personal experience, when somebody continually disobeys God's Word, disaster can and will strike them. If we don't listen to God and attempt to follow His commandments, we are in jepoardy of becoming like the people the apostle Paul described in Romans 1:18-32 which says:

 

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities�"his eternal power and divine nature�"have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator�"who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

 

When we don't follow God's Word and Commandments, we commit sin. Homosexuality is just one sin. I focused on that particular one because I felt God wanted me to address it. (BTW, I started this writing weeks before the Supreme Court decision). Now, I understand why he wanted me to talk about it. However, homosexuals aren't the only sinners in the world. Romans 3:12 says "All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is none that does good, not even one". We ALL sin against God. In fact, besides Jesus, every human that has ever lived has sinned against God! 1 John 1:8 says "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.". If you have trouble seeing that you're a sinner, ask yourself how well you've kept God's law, primarily the Ten Commandments. Have you ever lied? If you have, you're a liar and have broken that commandment. Have you ever stolen, even just like a pen? If you have, you've broken that commandment of God. Have you ever taken God's name in vain? That's called blasphemy and God is very offended by it! Let's look at one last commandment. The 7th commandment says "Do not commit adultery". However, as I mentioned earlier, Jesus views looking at people with lust as adultery. Have you ever looked at a man or woman with lust? All these violations of the commandments are sins against God. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. However, this isn't just a physical death. Revelation 21:8 says "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murders, the sexually immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idolaters, and all liars-they will be consigned to the fiery lake of sulfur". This verse is referring to Hell. Hell if the final destination of all that disobey God's Law. There will be a day when God decides where each of us spends eternity. 2 corinthians 5:10 says "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done in the body, whether good or evil." God is righteous, and if he were to give us what we rightfully deserve, we would all go to hell. Thankfully, God is also loving. In fact, he is the epitome of love, a pure and perfect love. Romans 5:8 says "But God demonstrates his own love to us in this :While we were still sinners, Christ died for us". God, being just and holy, had to punish somebody for the sins of man. He chose Jesus Christ, his holy, righteous, spotless Son, to pay the penalty for our sin. Isaiah 53:5 says "he was bruised for our transgressions, he was crushed for our sins, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed ". Jesus died a horrible, excruciating, humiliating death on a cross so we would be free from sin, death, and hell. All God wants us to do is repent of our sins, trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and try our very best to obey His Word. You don't have to be perfect at it. Lord knows I'm not! However, if you try your best and leave the rest up to him, he will shower you with mercy, grace, and unfailing love!